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Ted Cruz and the most cynical, despicable political stunt of the year
theweek ^

Posted on 09/12/2014 10:16:02 PM PDT by chessplayer

Aggressively supporting Israel is a political winner for conservatives. But when it comes at the expense of persecuted Christians who fear for their lives...

Since the second half of the 20th century, some of my fellow Christians have been the most persecuted religious group in the world. They still are. You probably are surprised to hear this. That's because most of these persecuted Christians don't live in the West. They are, as the awful phrase has it, too foreign for the right and too Christian for the left.

In recent weeks and months, however, the West has heard about the plight of at least one set of these persecuted Christians: those in the Middle East. These communities, many of which date back to the very beginning of Christianity, are now facing outright extinction. And it's happening at the hands of ISIS, the West's Public Enemy No. 1.

A summit was held this week in Washington, D.C., in support of Middle East Christians, and Cruz was supposed to be a keynote speaker. However, right in the second paragraph of his speech, he began exalting Israel. After a while, the assembly started to boo and heckle him. Cruz said, "If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you," and left the podium.

Keep in mind that many Christians in the Middle East are ethnic Arabs who live under Israel's occupation of the West Bank, and therefore have negative feelings about Israel. Of course, there are also many Middle East Christians who are supporters of Israel (indeed, there are even Arab Christians who serve, with distinction, in the Israeli Defense Forces).

As the excellent coverage, transcript, and recording provided by The American Conservative's Jonathan Coppage shows, the audience in Washington applauded Cruz's first lines of support for Israel and the Jews. The crowd turned against him ONLY WHEN IT BECAME CLEAR that he was launching into a rah-rah pro-Israel stump speech that had NOTHING to do with what they were doing there.

Cruz tarred and attacked one of the most powerless and beleaguered minorities in the world, solely for personal political gain. He was strong against the weak.

In the end, what was most striking about Cruz's tirade was the last phrase: "If you will not stand with Israel and the Jews, then I will not stand with you." Cruz was literally standing in a room with his fellow Christians. In the Bible, the idea of the fellowship of Christian believers is a very important one, and to break fellowship is to put oneself outside the community. What Cruz was saying was that agreeing to his views on Israel was more important as a badge of fellowship than believing in Jesus Christ.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: cruz; tedcruz
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To: ontap

Wrong...he was denied the opportunity to speak!!!


Flat out lie.


301 posted on 09/14/2014 10:49:58 AM PDT by chessplayer
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To: doc1019
We are getting a hint on who the MSM is beginning to fear.

And the Repubs-GOP. He's not an establishment GOPe. At least for now we trust he's not.
We'll see where he takes his message later on, and if he changes I want my donations back.

302 posted on 09/14/2014 10:52:55 AM PDT by MaxMax (Pay Attention and you'll be pissed off too! FIRE BOEHNER, NOW!)
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To: txhurl

“Israel will fight IS, if group reaches Jordan, Israeli official says

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3203589/posts";


Until then, they don’t give a rats butt about what ISIS does to the Christians.


303 posted on 09/14/2014 11:04:36 AM PDT by chessplayer
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To: Kaosinla

If there were any true Christians in that audience,


Another one who has taken it upon themselves to say who is a “real” Christian.


304 posted on 09/14/2014 11:07:02 AM PDT by chessplayer
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To: The Toll

To: Kaosinla

You are not the arbiter of who is or is not a true Christian, is your neck on the blade?


Unreal, isn’t it? The Cult of Cruz is so strong, it’s members are now deciding who is or isn’t a “real” Christian.


305 posted on 09/14/2014 11:10:09 AM PDT by chessplayer
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To: chessplayer

Another great read.

“The Middle East’s Friendless Christians”

“WHEN the long, grim history of Christianity’s disappearance from the Middle East is written, Ted Cruz’s performance last week at a conference organized to highlight the persecution of his co-religionists will merit at most a footnote. But sometimes a footnote can help illuminate a tragedy’s unhappy whole.”

“The fact that he was widely lauded says a lot about why, if 2,000 years of Christian history in the Middle East ends in blood and ash and exile, the American right no less than the left and center will deserve a share of responsibility for that fate.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/opinion/sunday/ross-douthat-the-middle-easts-friendless-christians.html

Neither the left nor right in the U.S. (as a vast whole) gives a damn if every last Christian in the birthplace of Christianity is exterminated.


306 posted on 09/14/2014 12:06:09 PM PDT by chessplayer
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To: chessplayer

The Cult of Cruz.


May I ask whose ‘cult’ you adhere to?


307 posted on 09/14/2014 1:53:02 PM PDT by txhurl (2014: Stunned Voters do Stunning Things!)
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To: txhurl

Cruz is the only politician out there right now that I give a crap about.


308 posted on 09/14/2014 1:58:42 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: GeronL; Jane Long; ontap

Cruz is the only one who cares that The Great Experiment did work and is working, just needs some tweaking, as those on the left searching for chinks in our Constitutional Armor found them and are thrusting deadly spears through those chinks.

Cruz knows how to grow a scale over those chinks, and restore the Constitution to infallibility, nearly 250 years after its construction.

Founder’s blood runs through his veins.

Note how Chessplayer is a Cruz-hater.


309 posted on 09/14/2014 2:10:24 PM PDT by txhurl (2014: Stunned Voters do Stunning Things!)
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To: txhurl

bump


310 posted on 09/14/2014 2:47:40 PM PDT by GeronL (Vote for Conservatives not for Republicans)
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To: chessplayer
Another one who has taken it upon themselves to say who is a “real” Christian.

The Christians that I recognize do not ally themselves with Hezbollah or any other Islamofascists.

And that, sir, has nothing to do with Ted Cruz.
311 posted on 09/14/2014 2:54:39 PM PDT by Kaosinla (The More the Plans Fail. The More the Planners Plan.)
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To: chessplayer
Good grief. Can’t people take off their tinfoil hats and stop with the “middle eastern Christians aren’t ‘real’ Christians” conspiracies crap? We don’t hold a candle to muslims when it comes to spouting nutso conspiracies.

When did I say "Middle East Christians" aren't real Christians? I'm speaking about this Hezbollah backed conference, which had nothing to do with the defense of Christianity. This is based on the detailed reporting of Katie Gorka (Breitbart), Alana Gooodman (Fee Beacon), Alan West, Farid Ghadry, and etc. This conference was a den of islamofascists exchanging business cards.
312 posted on 09/14/2014 3:09:03 PM PDT by Kaosinla (The More the Plans Fail. The More the Planners Plan.)
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To: txhurl
I think he's an Israel hater too.....he got around to comparing me to Obama supporters for pointing out that the people who booed Ted were anti Semitic!! Pretty lame
313 posted on 09/14/2014 8:23:34 PM PDT by ontap
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To: txhurl

Founder’s blood runs through his veins.

Note how Chessplayer is a Cruz-hater.


Feces runs through his veins. I wasn’t against cruz until he turned his back on Christians being exterminated by islamofacists. That has made me a cruz hater. And the anti-Christian hatred being spewed in here is appalling.


314 posted on 09/14/2014 10:49:36 PM PDT by chessplayer
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To: ontap

I think he’s an Israel hater too.....he got around to comparing me to Obama supporters for pointing out that the people who booed Ted were anti Semitic!!


Hey, if the shoe fits. You and others in here are claiming any criticism of Israel is racist,,,just like obamabots claim criticism of him is racist.


315 posted on 09/14/2014 10:53:48 PM PDT by chessplayer
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To: txhurl

May I ask whose ‘cult’ you adhere to?


It’s called sanity.


316 posted on 09/14/2014 10:54:50 PM PDT by chessplayer
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To: ontap

I think he’s an Israel hater too....


You wanna play that game too, eh? Well, perhaps you would like middle eastern Christians if they all looked like,,,hmmm,,,Arrrchie Bunker? The Card works both ways, buddy.


317 posted on 09/15/2014 12:18:20 AM PDT by chessplayer
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To: chessplayer

So Feces run through Ted’s veins.


318 posted on 09/15/2014 2:00:59 PM PDT by txhurl (2014: Stunned Voters do Stunning Things!)
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To: ontap; txhurl

The lightning struck above.


319 posted on 09/16/2014 9:53:21 PM PDT by Kaosinla (The More the Plans Fail. The More the Planners Plan.)
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To: Kaosinla

Yea!! Pretty pathetic!!!


320 posted on 09/17/2014 5:26:12 AM PDT by ontap
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